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Various talking heads- (no they are NOT journalists) are describing the new President’s Inaugural Address as “dark.” They claim he did not reach out to those who did not vote for him. Hmmm- not sure what speech they watched or read- and I have a sneaking suspicion that their remarks were written long before the actual speech was delivered. If it didn’t imply they actually work I would think they have been preparing their diatribes since Election Night. So let’s have a look at the speech and see.

“Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans, and people of the world: thank you.

We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people.

Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come.

We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.

Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent.

Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.

For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.

Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.

Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed.

The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.

Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.

It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America.

This is your day. This is your celebration.

And this, the United States of America, is your country.

What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.

January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.

The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.

Everyone is listening to you now.

You came by the tens of millions to become part of a historic movement the likes of which the world has never seen before.

At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a nation exists to serve its citizens.

Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves.

These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public.

But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.

This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.

We are one nation – and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.

The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans.

For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry;

Subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military;

There should be no fear – we are protected, and we will always be protected.

We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement and, most importantly, we are protected by God.

Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger.

In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving.

We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action – constantly complaining but never doing anything about it.

The time for empty talk is over.

Now arrives the hour of action.

Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of America.

We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again.

We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.

A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.

It is time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget: that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American Flag.

And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.

So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words:

You will never be ignored again.

Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams, will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.

Together, We Will Make America Strong Again.

We Will Make America Wealthy Again.

We Will Make America Proud Again.

We Will Make America Safe Again. And, Yes, Together, We Will Make America Great Again. Thank you, God Bless You, And God Bless America.”

What is “dark” in this speech? Was it where he said “We, the citizens”? Perhaps they perceive any reference to “WE, the PEOPLE” as threatening? Was it where he stated that “a nation exists to serve its citizens”? Did his references to the trials of our inner city brethren disturb them? Because he boldly proclaimed truth? Do they deny the plight of those who are trapped in poverty, in crime ridden neighborhoods? They have pulled THIS line out over and over- with not context-

This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.

Whether they like it or not, there IS carnage in our cities. Murders by the thousands. Citizens unable to walk safely in their neighborhoods. Thugs terrorizing the streets. Do they deny it? They take this one line and proclaim the entire speech was doom and gloom and “dark”? PLEASE. I say good on the President- tell it like it is and put a stop to the carnage.

Their evaluation says he did not reach out to the “other side” REALLY? Did they miss this?

We are one nation – and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.

The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans.

Or this?

So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words:

You will never be ignored again.

Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams, will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.

I see nothing dark or divisive in this speech. I see a leader addressing we, the people. A man not setting himself up as better than us- but stating he is one of us. I see patriotism on display. And THAT is something the media hates and has hated for years. Let me say to everyone reading this- it is NOT the new President dividing us- it is the media doing the bidding of their masters. The powers behind the old thrones- the thrones that were thrown down on November the 6th. Rise UP! Say NO to the great dividers and Make America Great Again!

I saw a link to this story over on Facebook- with the typical liberal doom and gloom “Oh My God! The Poor are going to DIE!” bs.Our Family will lose $44 in Food Stamps
Well it’s CRAP! The family of four adults gets $800! Yup EIGHT HUNDRED dollars a month in food stamps! And this lady can’t make it through a month? Get REAL! $800 is PLENTY to feed a family of four. PLENTY! (And as to why her pregnant adult daughter can not watch the baby of the OTHER adult daughter so she could get a job? THAT is another post!)

Yup- I could do that. Years and years ago I fed my boys and self on food stamps when my benefit for the 3 of us was $205 a month. And I did it. Was it easy? No. Some strategies were necessary. Starting with NO JUNK. No sugary cereal. No store-bought cookies. No soda or chips or candy. No prepared foods like spaghetti in a can or canned soups. Absolutely NO brand name things unless you have a coupon that brings the price below the store brand. Snacks were perhaps carrot sticks, an apple, celery with PB. Raisins. A big treat was plain nacho chips with block cheese grated over the top and popped in the oven. Gee- my house was THE go to home for good eats for my boys friends; they LOVED those nachos lol. Tuna casserole. Eggs- cheap and nutritious protein. Home made oatmeal cookies. Oatmeal – NOT instant in individual packages. Very nutritious and filling. Chili. A chicken would make AT LEAST three meals. Who needs Bisquick? Make your own and save a LOT of money. Keep a good basic pantry with flour, baking powder and baking soda. Yeast. Make your own bread. Purchase seasonal items. Potatoes and rice- always filling and potatoes are chock full of vitamins and minerals. Try to get yourself and your family in the habit of eating the skins too. Waste nothing. Watch for sales and buy in bulk when possible. For example- if chicken is on sale- buy extra and freeze it. Do not pay extra for cut up chicken-check the price. If whole chicken is cheaper- buy whole and cut it up yourself. Same with pork and beef. Buy big and cut it down. Save the ends of celery and carrots in a bag in the freezer for stock. DO NOT take children with you to the grocery store. Shop only twice a month. (I had a milkman back then so it made it easier but milk can be frozen and there is always powdered milk.) When apples are cheap in the fall- buy a lot and make your own applesauce and apple butter. Make up apple pie filling and freeze it. Same with pears. Same with peaches. Get it while it is cheap and learn how to preserve it. Most vegetables freeze very well. Buy vegetables in season and learn how to blanch and freeze. Watch price differences on fresh vs frozen vs canned. Not a big fan of canned vegetables- too much salt- but if it is the cheapest per pound go for it. Many times frozen vegetables price per pound is cheaper than fresh and just as nutritious. On the subject of frozen- milk can be frozen too. How about powdered or canned milk? Is it cheaper per gallon?

Popcorn. Regular old plain popcorn. NOT microwaveable in a bag portions of popcorn. Why pay extra for convenience and packaging? While I’m at it- let’s make SNAP like WIC- ONLY nutritious food. NO soda, chips, cookies or other junk. It is supposed to be a NUTRITION assistance program.

Could I do it today? I would say I probably could. I still shop only twice a month and average $48 per trip. Husband shops at the alternate stores weekly and spends about $35 a trip. We have the luxury of having an Aldi’s and a bent and dent store in the area. When I go to the store I head first for the marked down produce. I can often get oh luxury of luxury! Mushrooms at half off. Last shopping trip there were five packages of bananas marked down from 59 cents a pound to 39 cents a pound. I bought four packages. We ate one, I made a big batch of banana bread mini loaves- we ate one loaf and froze the rest for holiday giving. I froze the rest of the bananas for later baking and smoothies.

We save all year to buy a whole hog or lamb at the 4-H market auction in August. This year we got a whole hog for $2 a pound. That was $440 for the animal and then .45 a pound for the local processor to get it ready for the freezer. After processing and loss from the processing we paid about $3.66 a pound for pork. Pork enough for us for one year and some to give to church.

A few years back a CNN producer took the food stamp challenge– and bought chicken breasts? Lady are you kidding me? Chicken breasts? See the above- you buy a WHOLE chicken. Unless the chicken breasts were marked down to less than the cost of a whole chicken or less than legs and thighs.

Quit with the boo hoo bs before you start on me about food deserts and all that BS. Every city I know of has a farmer’s market and most all accept food stamps. Why not pitch in together on gas and get to a grocery store? God Forbid I should suggest that perhaps churches and other organizations could maybe run a van out to the grocery stores a couple of times a month? When I was on hard times my friends and I would chip in together to buy big bulk packs and split them up at home. Can the current recipients get together and do the same?

Quit enabling people to feel sorry for themselves and pointing out how life sucks for them. Teach them how to succeed with what they have and how to strive to make it better. Stop trying to make people who CAN afford a more varied diet feel guilty. Stop trying to frighten people. And forget about trying to make ME feel sorry for them. I believe we should help people out- OUT of poverty. NOT leave them there with no skills. And helping people out does not mean they get everything the working class or wealthy people get.

Oh and the lady in the CNN story lives in Florida. How about planting a garden lady? How about giving up some of those lovely potted plants and putting the pots to good use growing FOOD?

And quit with the BS of Congress people and “journalists” not giving the whole picture. It serves nothing but to promote an agenda.

I challenge ANY journalist or Congress critter to come here and I will show them how it is done and done well. I challenge the “journalists” to state FACTS- ALL of them- not just the sensationalized agenda promoting ones.

Undine Falls Changing Light over Mammoth Hot SPrings along the North Entrance RoadTrout Lake Woodland Hiking PathSunrise over Hayden Valley One of the famous Wolves of Lamar Valley (which the asshats in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are allowing to be killed should they act like wolves and follow their prey out of the Park. Pronghorn along the Northeast Entrance Road Elk (evil thing!) in Mammoth Hot Springs- getting ready to ram a car!

These are just a few of the images I shot in Yellowstone this summer. Now the evil fascist dictators will not let anyone in. The sign over the Arch in Gardiner says “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of THE PEOPLE”!

We are a musical people. While we sat in her hospital room waiting for her to cross over, we sang all the old songs Mom had sung to us. She was laboring to breathe and on a heavy morphine drip. I felt she was waiting for someone- and the only one she had not heard from was my daughter. My older sister and her daughter had spoken to her- we held the phone up to her ear.

On a hunch, I played a video I had on YouTube of my daughter. I said to her- “Mom, Here’s Kristen” and held the computer up where she could here it. Here is the clip of my daughter singing ‘Remember Me”

It seemed to help. Or at least it helped me. She did seem calmer. So I continued on playing youtube vids- as my voice was raw by then. I played this Judy Collins number- Mom’s favorite hymn. She would tell the story of how the Bishop wept when I sang this at Confirmation.

She grew calmer yet, though still struggling to draw each breath.

Then I searched around and found another song she wanted played at her funeral- wanted to find a Pavarotti version- but none of them were good so went with this one.

When I was hunting around I had seen a Scottish song- and her Mom was off the boat from Arbroath Scotland. Nana always sang as well- My Mom and her brothers and sisters could SING! King family got nothing on our family lol! I had thought the next selection would be something with bagpipes- Mom always loved them- but this with the Irish Tenors sounded so much like my uncles- I played this

She grew very calm, closed her mouth and took three completely normal unlabored breaths. I stood up to go and get the rest of the family who were in the waiting room across the way. My niece was coming in, with her Mom behind her. I looked back- and Mom had flown away home.

The Music lives on. The unending hymn of praise.

For those not of the Catholic faith- or not Christian. Scripture tells us, and the Eucharistic prayer echoes it, that in Heaven, the angelic choir sings always and forever, without end. Crying out HOLY! HOLY! HOLY! Lord God of Hosts!

Mom always said of me, that music touched me (I cry over music a lot lol- and live to sing!) She said that God had blessed me with a memory of that heavenly choir.

So the words of this hymn to me are true. Mom’s life flows on in endless song- above earth’s lamentation. I hear the real though far off hymn.

She sings now in the heavenly choir.

Save a place for me Mom. I sing on. I am still in rehearsal here on Earth. Someday we will sing together once more.

After three torturous days, this afternoon Mom found her wings and flew away home. We are a musical folk. This is the song that was playing on my computer when she finally found the courage to begin the next phase of the journey. Immediately upon hearing it she became calm after struggling breath after tortured breath since Wednesday. She took three calm breaths, I looked away for a moment, and when I looked back, she had flown away.

She is singing now, once again, with that pure strong voice, harmonizing with her Mom, her siblings and the angels- and now Dad can hear her.

Rest in Peace, Mom, until we meet again , on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Simple. Any ham bone will do. Leave a little meat on it if possible. If no meat on the bone- still use the bone- there is lots of good in there. Smack the bone with a cleaver if you have one or a hammer if not- you want to crack the bone so the marrow cooks out. There be nutrients in there!

Put the bone in a big ole soup pot. Cover with cold water. (Always start soup with cold water.) Chop up an onion and throw it in. Chop up some celery if you have it and some carrots if you have those. About the same amount as the onion. Pitch in some garlic. I like to throw in some thyme. Simmer it for a long long time – I let it go all day. Don’t add salt- the ham is salty enough.

After the long time, take the bone out. If the meat is still clinging to the bone- the long time is not over yet and you should put it back and simmer it some more. If the bone is clean the long time is over and you can set the bone aside to be given to the dog.

Rinse a bag or two of split peas- depending on how much stock you have. And how thick you like the soup. And whether unexpected company shows up. Pick out any stones or gravel from the peas. Dump them in the soup and simmer for as long as it takes. Some people like to puree the soup. Not me. I cook it til it is all smushy on its own. Stir it often so the peas don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

Serve it up. With bread or crackers or if you want to pretend you’re hoity-toity you could serve it with croutons. Which in their original incarnation were probably a poverty recipe too- someone took stale bread and toasted it and called it by a fancy name.

There are of course variations on this dish. Any ham bone- and any beans you like. Great Northern Beans, one of the 7, 12 or 15 bean mixes they sell in the store. More or less onion, carrots and celery. Different herbs and spices. Bean and Bacon is good if your ham bone is lacking meat. And you can afford bacon. If not, you could start by sauteing the onion, celery and carrot in some bacon grease you had saved. You do save your bacon grease right? No? Ok use any other oil or grease then.

Wishing Blessings on all. Peace, health, prosperity. Praying we all survive with our country intact, that the left and right cliff dwellers fall off into the abyss without dragging the rest of us down with them.

Meanwhile, I will be nurturing a few young people I know. They are very very bright- and support The Constitution. They do not watch the “news” and have already figured out for themselves that it is all lies and propaganda. Heck these kids are smart enough to have made the connection with Pravda on their own! There is hope! They support equal rights for all. They hate Obamacare- but support true universal health care with the insurance companies removed from the equation. There is hope! Did I mention they are young- but will be voting in the next election? There is hope! Perhaps the best part is they live in blue koolaid strongholds- but have managed not to become infected. They can actually THINK! No thanks to the public schools by the way.

I pray for our country every day. May the current ptb in the party formerly known as D rot in hell forever. We are never getting our party back as the filthy progressives/communists/socialists- whatever they call themselves- have killed it forever. Party of the poor indeed- it’s why they keep adding to the ranks of the poor. And the ptb on the R side are no better.

Hold on tight to what you know to be good and right. Yes, contrary to popular thinking, there are universal Rights and Wrongs. If we hold the line, we can be sure America will survive. Prevent the spread of the far extremes– fight it where you can. Nurture the young who will be voting in the next election. We need an antidote to the Oh-Bahm-A unthinking mindless zombies.